American statesman, born in Huntsville, AL, on the 28th of December 1814; died there on the 21st of May 1865. After graduating at the State University in 1833, he became a lawyer; was appointed United States marshal for northern Alabama in 1838, and elected to the legislature in 1839, 1840, 1841 and 1843. He was connected with the army in 1842, when he went to Texas as lieutenant-colonel of volunteers, and in 1847–48 was an officer in the infantry. From 1849 to 1853 he was in the United States Senate, and in 1859 became editor, at Memphis, of the Eagle and Enquirer. Popular feeling influencing him, he became a secessionist, but in 1864 he declared for the Union cause. He was the author of several novels, some of which dealt with American history, among them being Bernard Lyle (1853); Mustang Gray (1857), The Rivals (1859); and Tobias Wilson (1865). Just previous to his death he was at work on a history of the war.
